Why "For Pippin"?

Why did I make this page "For Pippin"?

There are a couple of reasons
for this. First and foremost is that I wanted to express and 'do something'
with my feelings of loss and mourning after she passed way so quickly
and unexpectedly. Giving her a little spot on the Internet is just my
way of giving her a sense of immortality. And if this page will aid
pet owners who recently lost their companion in any way, Pippin's life
will have had also a meaning to others than just us who knew her and
cared for her.

Cause here's my second
reason: far too often pet animals in our present day society are treated
as no more than consumer goods. That is especially true for the smaller
pets : hamsters, guinea pigs, rats, rabbits and small birds as budgerigars,
cockatiels and canaries. In our country, preoccupied with dogs and cats
as it is, it is almost impossible to find a good veterinarian who knows
about birds (thankfully, we have found an avian specialist were we live).
And we have also observed that many of these small animals are inbred,
leading to weakness of the species and hence, all sorts of associated
health problems.

It is my and our opinion
that, no matter how small, such pet animals deserve our respect and
our attention and the best care possible. There is no such thing as
"just a bird" or "just a guina pig", something you
hear quite often when you are suffering the loss of a pet animal. As
if its size determines the amount of love and grief you may feel for
them. They are the Gods' creatures in their own right and as pets, their
lives are entrusted to us. They have have their own individual characters,
quirks and peculiarities and they should not be treated as disposable
commodities serving our amusement, nor should this message be sent to
our kids in any way.

We owe it to ourselves
to give them the best of all, after all we are the ones who took away
their freedom to pursue their own fates and bound them to ours.

Pippin, but not only Pippin,
all the birds we have shared our life with, either still with us or
having moved on, have enhanced our lives in numerous ways, and each
in their own little or big way. It is my hope that a page like "For
Pippin" will somehow contribute to a realization that all creatures
we share this planet with deserve our respect and our love and attention.
And not just the ones we pay a lot of money for or who are capable of
doing fun tricks.

If this is achieved, however
small, then Pippin's life will have been more meaningfull.